


Forsake

by frozenCinders



Category: Bx: Execute (OFF Fangame)
Genre: M/M, Suicidal Ideation, lots of religious themes, some kind of au??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25495255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: God forbid anyone mistakes Lenny for a holy man.
Relationships: Borbo | Lenore Thaddeus/Lepi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	Forsake

If a god or an angel were ever to show itself to a mortal, most would assume they would appear before the truly devout. Maybe they would choose a select few people and visit them one by one. Maybe they would materialize during mass to soak up the awe and worship of many.

On the other hand, perhaps they might appear in order to smite the impure. That's a little closer to the truth, Lenny thinks. He looks up at the dilapidated ceiling of the cathedral, expecting it to drop debris on him at any given moment. The horrid angel before him grows annoyed at losing Lenny's attention.

"I am your god," he repeats. "Your life is mine, as is the case with everything that breathes."

"Mmhmmmmm!" Lenny sings. It's not even that he's not convinced, not particularly, it's just that he is so completely ambivalent. He came here to collect something, not to worship in an outdated house of god.

"You will listen to me."

"Listening, listening~"

He turns his back to the thing now, continuing his search. It slinks in front of him, form growing massive and, to others, perhaps frightening. He looks draconic and serpentine, talons curling on the fallen piles of stone and leaving cracks where he grips the fragile minerals. His jaws have grown big enough to fit Lenny's entire head inside, and so many eyes trail down the side of his face, his neck, who knows what else.

"Actually, could you move those rocks you're standing on while you're at it?" he asks politely.

The creature closes his mouth and stares at him with countless eyes. He swipes at the debris, kicking up a fierce cloud of dust and dirt that Lenny backs away from, and then he's human-shaped again. About half of the rocks have been moved, and the creature sits on the remainder of them, elbows on his knees and head held up by his hands.

"Could you move?"

"I have done you one favor. Return it first," he says. Lenny laughs.

"You count that as a favor? You hardly moved any of them, and who knows what's in all that dirt you kicked up!"

"Worship me," the creature demands.

"... You're clearly not human, I'll give you that," Lenny concedes, "but even if you could convince me beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're a god... I'm just not the worshipping type. Sooooorry!"

He glares at Lenny and moves only to angrily pace around.

"You are "not the worshipping type" because you feel God has forsaken you," he points out. He's right, and Lenny doesn't know how he knows that, but he acts like he doesn't care and simply continues his search.

"Loath as I am to admit it, there is one above me, and perhaps you have earned his ire, somehow. But do not let that stop you from showing me the proper respect. Really."

"You're funny," Lenny cheerfully points out. "Got any angels? As servants, maybe?"

"... Why is that any of your business?"

"That means you're embarrassed about the answer being no, doesn't it? Doesn't it?"

Directly taunting a god has been on Lenny's bucket list for a long time.

"Just tell me what the hell you need an angel for," the creature deadpans, eyes narrowed.

"Not actually an angel, just a halo. Well, that's what I'm looking for, at least. If I _could_ get ahold of an angel..."

What better way to justify Lenny's forsaken status than to perform experiments on a holy creature? Perhaps his punishment was preemptive, with knowledge that he would do such a thing in the future even if he were left alone.

"My name is Lepi," the creature tells him-- maybe for the second time, Lenny wasn't paying much attention. "Engrave it in your mind, human. I am responsible for all life; it is all a gift from yours truly."

"Mhm," Lenny hums noncommittally as he abandons this particular pile of debris to look elsewhere.

"Of all possible gods, I am the greatest. You are incredibly lucky to be allowed to lay eyes on whatever form I decide to show you. So show me your appreciation, if you please," Lepi continues to babble. Lenny hardly caught any of that, and he ignores him completely.

A minute later, Lepi clears his throat. Lenny humors him with a quick glance, and then a double-take when he sees the softly glowing ring in Lepi's hand.

"Ah, did this old thing get your attention?" he asks haughtily.

"I'm not an idiot. You won't give it to me," Lenny says, though he's stopped his search and keeps his attention on Lepi.

"I am life. I am loved and desired by the vast, vast majority of organisms. You will show me the proper respect," Lepi demands again.

"Okay, Life. As a member of the tiny, tiny minority, here's the amount of respect I think you deserve."

Lenny makes no gestures or follow-up whatsoever. Lepi tilts his head.

"That's it. Nothing."

"You really have no idea what you're fucking with here, do you?"

"Oooh, what are you gonna do? Kill me?"

Lepi looks away.

"Come on. Get over here and turn into a dragon again. Crush my skull. Grind me into dust. Paint this colorless cathedral a gorgeous crimson."

"I cannot," Lepi says, softly. He's silent for a good while.

"Then kindly fuck off and leave me to my search, please," Lenny requests in a mock-polite tone.

"What would it take to make you respect life? Any of it?" he asks like it's been on his mind from time immemorial.

"Ah, you're sad because I hate you! Cute, very human," Lenny teases. Lepi makes it quite clear with his eyes alone how much he doesn't appreciate the compliment.

"... I will leave this halo here, in this cathedral," Lepi says suddenly. "But you will only be able to claim it when you are here alone."

"Great! Then go ahead and be on your way so I can take it!"

Lepi sits again and crosses his legs, followed by his arms. He idly taps the halo against his bicep as he stares Lenny down.

"... I see. In that case, I'll come back some other time," Lenny says. He doesn't spare Lepi another glance before leaving.

* * *

It's dusk again the next time Lenny comes to search. He carefully slips inside, hoping a week will have been long enough for that bored life god to forget about him.

His shoulders drop in an annoyed sigh when he sees the mouthless creature at the altar, floating the halo above his head and staring at it with fascination.

"So what happens if I just walk up to you and grab it?"

"Hello to you too, Lenore."

"I didn't tell you my name." He's supposed to be going by Borbo right now. Not that he cares.

"You think you need to?" The halo floats behind Lepi's head and rotates from horizontal to vertical, expanding to frame him perfectly. The light is almost pleasant to view-- and _quite_ holy, seeing as the backdrop to its obnoxious holder is an old altar.

Lenny sighs again, performatively this time.

"So you'll give it to me if I decide to worship you, is that it? You still didn't answer my question, by the way," he reminds.

"First, if you reach for this halo in my presence, you will lose your hands. Second... perhaps."

"It appears we've reached a stalemate, then."

"So it seems."

And so, for months, and then years, Lenny continues revisiting the cathedral every time a new lead either runs dry or fails to present itself at all. Every time, Lepi talks to Lenny, asks him questions, proposes hypothetical situations that make them talk circles around each other.

He asked Lenny what kind of animals he likes once. Lenny answered "cats, scorpions, and poisonous frogs". Lepi's response was to show him a hideous, miserable hybrid he manifested the next time Lenny visited him. It was charming, in its own way.

"Question for you, Life," Lenny leads with this time, considering he's never bothered to say a simple hello first and he isn't about to start now. Lepi has learned that complaining about it is useless.

"I'm sure I know the answer," Lepi responds pompously, eyes closed and lit beautifully by that god damned halo, giving him a tangibly smug aura.

"Do you hate me like I hate you?" he asks.

Lepi's eyes open wherever he had blindly placed them, falling nowhere near Lenny.

"You reject me consistently. You insult me with every chance you get. You commit acts of complete disrespect against me." His eyes hollow themselves out. "Yes. I hate you."

"Don't requited feelings feel nice?"

"Don't kid yourself, Lenore."

"I only kid _you,_ Life."

Lenny doesn't acknowledge it in words, and hardly even in thoughts, but he believes whatever relationship they're continuing to cultivate has been published in every dictionary under the word "obsession". They both keep coming back, knowing they have absolutely nothing to gain. Lenny will never worship Lepi, who will never let him take the halo. He either spends all his time at the cathedral or simply appears whenever he detects Lenny approaching.

Lenny walks up to him, having long since abandoned any intimation that Lepi could be a danger to him. He's made changes to Lenny's body before-- given him obscene growths all over his arms as punishment during an argument only to remove them later, taken a limb or two or three only to return them, taken his ability to see, to hear, to speak, _only to return them._ He noticed a limp once and silently fixed it.

Lenny reaches slowly for the halo, so slow he's barely moving. Lepi watches him carefully, ready to react to any sudden movements.

"What if we changed the terms?" Lenny asks, stopping his hand in mid air.

"Changed them to what?"

"Instead of you not being here, what if you simply... weren't looking? If you don't see me grab the halo, it should be free game, hm?"

"... And you think reaching behind my head counts as me not seeing it?"

Lepi turns his head and spawns an eye on the side of it, fixed on Lenny's hand.

"Maybe not. But I still think it's a fairer rule. If you don't accept it, I really might stop coming back..."

"Fine," Lepi relents rather quickly. "Good luck getting my guard down, fiend."

"Oh, I'd say I'm quite good at that. But I'm tired, and had better head home and get started on dinner now," he says, withdrawing his hand. As always, Lepi silently watches him leave.

* * *

"What is your plan this time, Lenore?" Lepi speaks first this time, his voice entering Lenny's mind the moment he steps foot into the cathedral.

"Hm... I was wondering if you don't ever sleep?" Lenny says.

"You'd be a fool to think I would fall asleep in front of you."

"I prefer the term joker."

"All the better, fool."

"I would say I'm out of ideas, but I'm not one to lie," Lenny sighs, draping himself across the dusty couch he'd dragged in about a year and a half ago now, maybe.

"Then what ideas _are_ flitting around in that incorrigible head of yours?"

Lenny taps his helmet with his index finger three, four, five times before standing up and walking towards Lepi. He's abandoned his favorite spot this time and instead stands by the pews, already close to the couch. Lenny places his hands on Lepi's shoulders, who jumps at the unexpected contact, and then he slides his arms behind Lepi's neck, interlinking his hands well below the halo, which floats horizontally today. He looks like an angel, like Lenny originally mistook him for.

"Alright, what are you getting at?" Lepi asks, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at him. Not so omniscient a god after all.

"You've shown me all kinds of scary faces. Want to see one in return?"

Lepi's eyes get wide and soft with the realization.

"I won't move a muscle. If you want to see it, take my helmet off for me," he says.

He expected Lepi to at least _pretend_ not to give a shit, and it's so hard not to laugh when his hands immediately come up to try to figure out how to remove the helmet. Lenny tilts his head up, shows Lepi all the latches that need to be undone before it can slide off his head.

He holds the helmet awkwardly when it's off, keeping it lifted above Lenny's head as he takes in his features for the first time. He doesn't think he's shaved in a couple of weeks, and the bags under his eyes are as bad as ever. It's a normal kind of ugly for him, a deathly pale that should have been expected based on his bare hands. Black and gray intermingle carelessly in both the hair on his head and the sparse, scratchy scruff on his face, almost as if they're trying to make him uglier on purpose.

It's odd, though, how Lepi doesn't even comment on it when he's never been one to pull punches. He doesn't seem to react at all, in fact, not even when Lenny brings his arms a little tighter around Lepi's neck and leans closer. A smile, always tired-looking on his face, tugs at him when Lepi catches on and adjusts his face, allotting a mouth of his own. Lepi leans into the kiss the moment Lenny initiates it, and Lenny unlinks his hands to let them roam a little, rubbing at Lepi's back and then up to his neck, up the back of his head, then on top...

His eyes are closed, after all. Lenny's fingers slowly curl around the halo, his other hand relieving Lepi's of his helmet.

"Keep them closed," Lenny whispers before Lepi can come to his senses, before he can realize how stupid he's being for trusting him.

Lenny is long gone before he ever does, and he feels himself being forsaken by yet another god.


End file.
